"...Somehow, around the beginning of 1991, I also found myself roped into the Canvey Island Allstars. The CIA was a loose collective of musicians from the Southend area, and I got a call from Steve the Hotrods drummer one day, asking if I'd like to be involved. It was an odd group consisting of Roman Jugg, Steve, and former Hotrods and Dr. Feelgood roadies Dean and Warren. It sounded a laugh and had the backing of the Feelgoods' manager, so we met up, had one rehearsal and set off on a bunch of gigs around the UK, Holland and Belgium. An album was recorded in Kent over 2 days and was released in April as "Escape from Oil City". However Captains gigs took precedence and my time with the CIA was a short lived one, besides it wasn't quite the supergroup that Dean fondly imagined!..." Paul Gray (Eddie & the Hot Rods, The Damned...) Source

Every few years, a new generation of punks works its way back from Green Day to Nirvana to Black Flag to the Sex Pistols to the Ramones. Those who don't stop there at "Blitzkrieg Bop" usually make their way back to the first New York Dolls album, and the result is albums like the debut from the Heart Attacks. Glammy and garagey in equal doses, with theatrical vocals and shout-along choruses dueling with great Johnny Thunders-style brash guitar riffs, "Heart and Scissor Killers" is shamelessly derivative but hugely fun. Unlike many bands working this style, the Heart Attacks understand that the Dolls' secret weapon was their devotion to '60s pop sounds, so songs like "Guilty" and "You Were Warned" have catchy tunes to go along with the distorted guitars and attitude. Energetic and entertaining, "Heart and Scissor Killers" is a great way to kill a half-hour. Dig the excellent rooster shags and mascara look on the front cover as well. Source

The Heart Attacks were a glam punk band from Atlanta, Georgia, and were signed to Tim Armstrong's Hellcat Records. In April/May 2007 the band toured throughout the southern United States as part of a Hellcat Records package tour. Later that year, the band embarked on an extensive East Coast tour that stretched from Florida to Massachusetts, and included a handful of dates in the Mid-West (e.g. Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland)n as well. Their first album, "Heart ad Scissor Killers" featured all original members, Chase, Tuk, Dave, Paul, and Amos. The band was offered a place on the 2005 Warped Tour caravan but due to a scheduling conflict and unable to follow the tour, Amos was replaced by Brad, who became their steady drummer until 2007 when he made the decision to continue his education. During the Warped Tour, their bus broke down in California and with the aid of locals, they made their way back home to Atlanta. Fortunately, they also became acquainted with Tim Armstrong in this time period, and left Brand Name Records for a better-known label. This decision proved fruitful as the band released a more widely advertised album "Hellbound and Heartless" in 2006, featuring a duet between Chase Noles and guest singer Joan Jett. In late 2008 lead guitar player Tuk and Bass player Portwood started a side project along with Joey from Vengeance 77 dubbed Poison Arrows and later the Biters. After lead vocalist Chase Noles was thrown into jail and Bassist Portwood went back to rehab the Heart Attacks would soon call it quits, it seems that it was the end of the Heart Attacks. Source

9/21/2012

Once dubbed ‘America’s best unsigned band’ by CMJ, New London, CT’s The Reducers spent much of their 34-year career skirting the edges of wider mainstream popularity. But what they lacked in broader exposure, they made up for in critical acclaim and influence on generations of musicians and music fans around the world. A brand-new international tribute, “Rave On: A Tribute to the Reducers Vol. 1″ (Good Sponge Records), coming Sept. 22, features 24 tracks that pay sound tribute to the band’s longstanding musical legacy.

There will be a CD release party for the album on Saturday, Sept. 22 at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center Rose Barn in Waterford, CT (305 Great Neck Road, Waterford, CT 06385, (860) 443-5378). The O’Neill’s Rose Barn was the first venue the Reducers played together as a band in June of 1978. The CD release party will feature live performances from Heap, the Dogmatics, the Manchurians, Paul Brockett Roadshow, the Rivergods (w/Steve Elci & Lauren Agnelli), the Clothespins, Jes Farnsworth, Matt Gouette, Blonde Furniture and Missy Roback, and will focus on Reducer’s (and Reducers-related) music. Following the CD release party, the album will be available from Good Sponge Records and via other local and national retailers.
Doors open at 6:30pm. The show runs from 7:00-11:00pm. There is a suggested donation of $10, and CD copies of “Rave On: A Tribute to the Reducers Vol. 1″ will be available for purchase. All profits from the event and CD sales will benefit the immediate family of Steve Kaika, who continue to work through medical bills and other challenges incurred during Kaika’s illness. Beer, wine and other refreshments will be available for purchase at the show.

The City Kids were a french rock band from Le Havre.Formed in August 1980, their influences are diverse: the Anglo-Saxon rock of the seventies (MC5, the Stooges, the Who), the punk (Clash, Damned,Saints,Undertones, Stiff Little Fingers ...) and especially the Australian rock underground (Radio Birdman, Died Pretty). Since the mid-seventies, Le Havre city has a reputation for being "a heavy rock town"...Thanks to Little Bob Story at the time the only French rock band singing in English to perform across the Channel.

City Kids will soon imitate their elders in 1981 for 25 dates with Doctor Feelgood.The City Kids has performed in France and in Europe with about a hundred dates a year with Iggy Pop in 1990 at the Zénith of Paris. Against the current musical fashions of the moment, City Kids did not got successful beyond a certain part of the rock audience.

Produced by Rob Younger, the first City Kids mini album "The Name Of The Game" was recorded live in their town of Le Havre. A solid album: one of my favorite french rock albums !

The Canadian punk rock band the Battered Wives formed in 1977. Early members were lead singer and guitarist Toby Swann, bassist Larry "Jasper" Klassen, and drummer Cleave Anderson. Later, singer and guitarist John Gibb joined the lineup, and after Anderson departed the scene, drummer Patrick Mooney came on board as well. In between 1978 and 1980, the Battered Wives recorded a number of singles and three albums, sometimes working under the shorter and less controversial title of the Wives.

the Battered Wives started performing in Toronto in the latter part of the '70s. By 1978, the band had signed a contract with the Bomb Records label and released a self-titled debut album and a two-sided single, "Uganda Stomp" and "Giddy." A lot of the attention the band's name, some of its songs' lyrics, and even lipstick-smeared fist logo earned them wasn't welcomed. Women's groups soon began to picket the Battered Wives at concerts. Though the press wasn't positive, it was still press, and probably in the long run helped the band build a bigger fan base of rebellious teens and young adults. It didn't take long for the debut album to reach gold. Some of the tracks from the successful first outing are "Angry Young Man," "Everybody Loves a Loser," and "Lover Balls."

Just before the band began work on a sophomore release, Anderson tossed in the towel. He moved on to a group called the Sharks. As soon as Anderson left, Mooney was brought in to fill the spot. That second album, Cigarettes, came out under the band's shorter title, the Wives. Although it didn't sell nearly as well as the first, it earned the band a Juno Award. The next album, Live on Mothers' Day, was finished in 1980 under the Ready Records label. The guys were using the debatable name, the Battered Wives again, but sells still didn't rise. It was the last full-length recording the band would make together. In 1999, both albums were re-released on CD. SourceBuy it HERE!

Hailing from Atlanta, the Poison Arrows are no strangers to the punk rock world. Featuring former members of The Heart Attacks, the band plays furious power pop punk with glam roots that is catchy and anthemic as all hell and raging with attitude. Power pop with attitude?

Definitely. These aren’t crying-in-your-beer-over-a-girl love songs. This is the band Tuk, Portwood, Josh, and Joey were meant to play in.

The A-side “Sticky Situations”, about the trouble we all love to somehow get into, will be that foot-tapping, hot jam stuck in your head and stuck on your turntable.

The B-side brings us “Shakin’ All Over” and “Wild Hearts Beat Free”, both songs about rockin’ and rollin’ and livin’ your life how you want. You’ll be hearing a lot more from the Poison Arrows this coming year. Get some! Source

''The crowd quickly warmed up to the group's jarring collision of Cheap Trick and Dead Boys:

I thought you guys were gonna suck because your haircuts are fucking gay—but you rock,”

" I am very excited to announce that we have launched a Kickstarter to help fund the new Zachary James & The All Seeing Eyes album "SPACE CASE"! With this record, we wanted to create something special for you that would stand the test of space and time. I give you "SPACE CASE": a 5 color swirl, 12" vinyl LP dusted with silver glitter- the whole record will resemble the galaxy of the Milky Way, forming your very own microcosmic universe you can spin on a turntable or hold in your hands!

We are releasing this record completely independently without the help of a record label. This will not be possible without YOUR support. Help us bring this galactic record into alternate relaity and pledge HERE"

'63 Mönröe is a story all by itself. Success, tragedy... it was all there. I'd write a book if I had the time. They were more than just another sex drugs and rock n roll story. To their credit they never gave in to the music industry.

The band's name derived from the obvious; that being the beginning of a new legend. It is also a statement showing the member's feelings towards the insanity, excesses and stupidity of the jet set celebrities and of their own demise. Although influences on the band had included the New York Dolls, The Ramones as well as early London (Canada) bands such as the Demics, they were aware of the importance of finding their own niche. The sound was raw, but enjoyable to the punk/metal crossover generation...and for those who understood that the band was approaching alternative music from a different angle, they were a breath of fresh air. - Danny Napalm

In 1985, the band released their second album, the highly praised Stinkin’ Out the Joint. SOTJ is a back alley blast of rattling cans and fists on flesh – a steady and raw groove of chunky metal and slumbering punk. Stunning’s voice on SOTJ is particularly interesting, like a psychedelic Wolfman with a new wave echo and inaudible lower east side tongue. The whole thing lacks severely in production value, giving you a sense of what it would have been like to be front row at The Cedar Lounge for a rock show. The success of SOTJ took ’63 Monroe beyond London’s borders, including a show at CBGB’s in NYC with Johnny Blitz’s band...

The scene was hotter than ever and at the heart of it all was ’63 Monroe, whose stage antics began to take on a life of their own – porno broadcasts, platform boots, nudity, coffins, smoke bombs, dry ice. ’63 Monroe was defiantly flaunting raunchy excess as though they were LA hipsters, not London (Ontario) overachievers. But overachievers they were, contently inventing new ways to tear up their hometown instead of going after the tainted allure of fame and fortune. Jeff Warren, Sleazegrinder.com

9/01/2012

Directed by Danny Garcia (The Rise and Fall of The Clash), Looking For Johnny is the definitive documentary on New York legendary guitar player Johnny Thunders.In 90 minutes, this film covers Johnny Thunders career from his beginning in the early 70's to his demise in New Orleans, where he died under mysterious circumstances in 1991.